[ARC] Bald New World by Peter Tieryas Liu

I should have stopped myself at the title. Instead, and despite the clear parody of the title Brave New World, I kept on reading this book, sustained by the numerous positive reviews.

The question now is: am I a misunderstood reader (or am I unable to gasp irony)? Or: what did the other people actually read? Where and how did they saw in this parodist vision of science fiction Blade Runner (?!), Philip K. Dick (!!) and Murakami?

Human beings become suddenly bald, the wig industry become rich and the reader faces various settings, from the police state to the consumer submitted to 3D video advertising. The main characters are Nick and Larry, director and producer of trash movies, who found themselves involved in international crimes, being Larry the heir of the major wig producer industry.

I am honest, I did not finish it (at least I read it in fast forward mode) since it bored me from the beginning chapters. The whole book seems to me a sort of science fiction parody, however lacking the humor and the absurd that can be found in Douglas Adams novels. The hair loss – pivot of the whole novel – is described and underlined, but it does not influence the character behavior (if it was not described the reader would not notice it at all).

I did not like the novel and I did not find it ironic or funny, but mostly I’m astonished for the people who make a resemblance to P. K. Dick novels: Dick did not actually write funny and ironical novels, but book that pose serious questions about society and the idea of reality we have.

Each time Bald New World is compared to something wrote by P.K. Dick a simulacra dies.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me the copy necessary to write this review.